Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Osteopath Aims Approach At Filling Primary Care Gap
Dr. Valerie Goodman, an osteopathic doctor, explains osteopathic medicine and how it influences how she delivers patient-centered care at her practice in rural Centreville, Md.
Osteopathic Physicians: An Answer To Rural Health Care Needs?
The growing number of osteopathic doctors could help fill the primary care niche in medically underserved areas.
The Mainstreaming Of Osteopathic Medicine
For years, osteopathic physicians were viewed differently than their medical-doctor counterparts, but this distinction is disappearing.
Hospitals Crack Down On Tirades By Angry Doctors
For many years, hospitals were reluctant to address physicians who berated nurses, threw scalpels or demeaned co-workers. But increasingly such actions bring discipline.
Activist Ignites A Movement For Patients Through Art And Story
The experience of her husband’s death transformed artist Regina Holliday into a patient advocate. Now, she’s galvanizing others with the common goal of improving health care to make it better, cheaper and safer.
Hospitals Clamp Down On Dangerous Early Elective Deliveries
Pressure from insurers, employers and advocacy groups is finally reducing rates of elective deliveries before 39 weeks.
Walmart Health Screening Stations Touted As Part Of ‘Self-Service Revolution’
The kiosks are part of a technology boom targeted at consumers seeking instant health data and cheaper, more convenient care.
New Coverage May Spur Younger Women To Use Long-Acting Contraceptives
The health law specifies that birth control is a covered service in many plans ending the burden of a high up-front cost for IUDs and hormonal implants.
Cancer Rehab Begins To Bridge A Gap For Patients
STAR, a program designed to offer cancer survivors rehabilitation therapy after treatment, is growing, as is research showing that many of the quality-of-life problems cancer survivors have are physical and can be helped with rehab.
Health Technology’s ‘Essential Critic’ Warns Of Medical Mistakes
“We’re in the midst of a mania right now,” Dr. Scot Silverstein warns, speaking of the race to adopt electronic health records. “We know it causes harm, and we don’t even know the level of magnitude. That statement alone should be the basis for the greatest of caution and slowing down.”
California Health Chief Looks Within For Solution To Rising Health Costs
Ex-cop-turned-Scripps Health CEO Chris Van Gorder roots out ‘unnecessary variation’ to make care more cost-effective.
Higher Hospital Readmissions Aren’t Linked To Fewer Deaths, Study Finds
The research bolsters Medicare’s efforts to prompt hospitals to reduce the number of patients who return quickly even though some experts assert that might be a sign of good care.
Observation Units Can Improve Care But May Be Costly For Patients
Sometimes patients who are kept in the hospital to monitor their condition are not formally admitted and must pick up a bigger share of the cost.
Letters to the Editor is a periodic KHN feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We will edit for space, and we require full names.
Insurance columnist answers readers’ questions about the new pregnancy benefits offered in the health overhaul, assurances that current insurance policies will be honored in the future and switching employer health plans.
Research Finds Link Between Poor Health And Seniors Switching Out Of Private Medicare Plans
Some advocates are concerned that the Medicare Advantage plans have incentives to skim off the lowest-maintenance customers and leave the expensive patients to the traditional program.
Post-Sandy, NYU Langone Has Reopened, But Can It Regain Market Share?
Some 500 NYU doctors found refuge at other hospitals while NYU was closed following Hurricane Sandy. Now, the question looms whether all of the patients and doctors will return.
Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital Is Back, But Changed After Sandy
Doctors, staff and administrators at the large urban institution have had to improvise as they restore partial service to the community and repair the historic hospital’s damaged infrastructure at the same time.
Kidney Donation Over Age 70? Desperate Patients Saying, ‘Yes, Please’
While most of the nation’s kidney transplant centers don’t have an upper age limit for recipients, more than three-quarters don’t accept the organs from people older than 70. Some doctors and patients are pushing to change that.
Despite Incentives, Doctors’ Offices Lag On Digital Records
A recent study found that the health care industry isn’t benefiting from computer networks that have transformed other fields. But the federal coordinator for health IT says there has been a lot of progress that will result in better care and cost savings in the future.
